“Fix these Words of Mine in your hearts and minds…Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up….so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.”

(Deuteronomy 11: 18-21)

In 1620, William Bradford and the brave men and women of faith aboard the Mayflower declared America to be “for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.” Later it was President George Washington who said that “the twin pillars essential for supporting a successful society are morality and religion.” John Adams, our second president specified that the “general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were … the general principles of Christianity.”

History has recorded a wealth of evidence that our founding fathers intended the United States to be a haven for those dedicated to biblical truth. These men had the foresight not only to install constitutional safeguards to our freedoms, but also to warn of what would occur in the absence of these ideals. Daniel Webster said it this way: “To preserve the government we must also preserve morals. Morality rests on religion; if you destroy the foundation, the superstructure must fall. When the public mind becomes vitiated and corrupt, laws are a nullity and constitutions are waste paper.” What a chilling description of where we are today!

Patrick Henry articulated a similar caution: “The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor … and this alone, that renders us invincible.” His exhortation brings to mind the verse in Scripture that points to the source of our effectiveness as Christ’s representatives: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6). The strength of our nation lies not in our military prowess (though that is certainly important to our defense), but in our commitment to absolute truth.

As we gather with our families around grills and picnic tables, and turn our gazes heavenward to see “the bombs bursting in air” in celebration of our nation’s independence, let us not forget that it is our God who gifted us with the freedom we so often take for granted. John Adams said: “[The Fourth of July] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”

It’s ultimately up to us, you know. Our nation was intended to be a Christian nation. But it will be one only so long as we who bear His name stand firm on His truths and tell others, through our words and our actions, the Good News of Jesus Christ. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance.”(Psalm 33: 12)

Looking ahead to the time we will be “one nation under God” again, Pastor Glenn